A meeting of more than 187 church leaders from across Africa has highlighted the role of female clergy in fighting the Aids pandemic that has swept the continent. The four-day gathering, which ended on Friday, was organised by the All Africa Conference of Churches to explore ways of stepping up efforts to curb the spread of HIV.
A society free of female genital mutilation, also known as female circumcision, appeared distant this week after a group of women’s rights activists accused medical personnel of carrying out the practice. The activists made the allegation in Nairobi, Kenya, on Monday, after a meeting of former circumcisers organised by Equality Now.
Calls for Kenyan officials to clamp down on abortion were sounded anew last week, during a mass for 15 aborted foetuses discovered near a river. Authorities seek to assure the public that they are taking steps to prevent a repeat of this situation, but a question mark is hanging over why the government has failed to enforce anti-abortion laws.
With large-scale retrenchments of about 21 000 workers looming over Kenya’s civil service, union officials say they have presented research to the government showing that the ranks of public employees are already being substantially thinned by retirement and other factors.
Sudan has edged closer to a final peace deal after the government and rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Army signed three protocols on Wednesday night that are crucial to ending Africa’s longest-running civil war. Over two million people have been killed and four million displaced by the war waged by the Islamic government in the north and black Christians and animists in the south.
As the clock ticks closer to the deadline for introducing a new Constitution in Kenya, Atsango Chesoni for one is filled with anticipation at the coming change. The women’s rights activist and official at Bomas Katiba Watch says the country’s existing Constitution discriminates against women, especially on the issue of property rights — and that change in this matter is long overdue.
A third and final round of peace talks for East Africa’s most beleaguered country, Somalia, is scheduled to begin on May 20 amid funding shortfalls and frustration at the antics of faction leaders. Somalia is currently the only country in the world without a central government, having been ruled by faction leaders since January 1991.
"The stability of any government is measured by the freedom it gives to the press," says Kenyan media activist Mitch Odero, adding that a "clean" government should not be worried about the press. But recent statements by Kenyan authorities indicate that they have a less sanguine view of the country’s journalists.
”The stability of any government is measured by the freedom it gives to the press. If the government is clean in its dealings, then I see no reason why it should be worried about the press,” says Kenyan media activist Mitch Odero. Recent statements by authorities indicate that they have a less sanguine view of the country’s journalists, however.
A report suggesting the legalisation of abortion in Kenya to reduce maternal mortality has sparked a heated debate in the country. Pro-life organisations claim that preventing unwanted pregnancies is a better way of reducing these deaths. An estimated 300 000 abortions are performed in the country each year, causing an about 20 000 women and girls to be hospitalised with related complications.